Silver

by Pieslak, Dixie

  My cousin was home at last and in bed, so a quick hi and g'nite, clothes off, PJ's on. Memory of cocky smirk and breath at my ear. I decided to do some searching tonight. Lights off, I looked the yard and the street, putting it out there. Wanting to prove myself right or wrong and not sure which would make me feel better. Wondering why he'd used my word, important to me all my life. Well, he stole my word, but not my control.

  It took no time at all. I felt a glimpse and held on, recognizing what I had found. He was there. Or someone similar to him. Spooky either way. How could I let my guard down? I couldn’t afford to let his cool, sweet breath near me again. I rolled my eyes at the picture in my head.

  Who was I kidding?

  Chapter 24

  “You know how men are, Christina. He tried to be subtle, but I can tell. It was hard not to laugh when I said yes to a walk. The look on his face, trying to be cool guy and failing. And really, who asks a girl to take a walk? Are you asleep, Christina?”

  She rustled the covers. “Mmph.”

  “Okay, I'll talk anyway. So much to tell you, but no time, so you get a short version.” I pulled my bedspread over her and went back to the closet. “Since it's nice out I'm going for tank top and shorts. He suggested a walk to the park. Good idea, huh, cuz? We meet in half an hour at the Tavern parking lot, but I have to get this hair under control first. Maybe one long braid and a cap?”

  Christina mumbled in her half asleep.

  “You don't need to talk. I'm just airing, anyway.” I sat on the floor to tie my sneakers. “So, he's back. Still gorgeous guy, very proper at the Tavern. No touching, probably so I feel safe after all my suspicions. But we talk at break and I want more. Know what I mean? So when he asked for more than just another coffee date, I jumped for it. I mean, he asked me days ago but I didn't say yes until last night when he reminded me today is Saturday and what about the walk.”

  I heard a snuffle. Christina's head was hanging over the edge of my bed. “Ugly sneakers,” she said.

  “No, they're not.” I looked at the jumble of shoes in my closet. “Sandals, then?”

  “Better,” she mumbled.

  I made the switch and went to the bathroom sink. “Brecken wants to check out all the parks and sit on the swings or something. It's sweet. We're going to walk around different streets and check out the landscape, too. Who does that? And he agreed to do it on my terms. No picking me up. We meet in the Tavern parking lot and go from there. This braid isn't working.”

  I rummaged through the drawers for a big clip and started over with my hair. “Guys are usually easy. Dating is just dating. Brecken's different, Christina. Complicated, which is fun and a nuisance at the same time. Course, I tend to like complicated, remember? Simple is boring and nothing boring about this guy. Maybe I'm over careful, but you know how I felt he was around even when I never actually saw him? That feeling hasn't gone away.”

  “He probably lives nearby.”

  “You awake now? Yeah, maybe you're right. I never thought of that.”

  “Ask him.” She yawned big and snuggled deeper.

  “Does this hair clip work? I think it looks good. Or I could just let my hair blow in his face. Maybe then he'd speed it up and make a real move. I mean, he's never even held my hand. Weird for a guy, isn't it? How's my hair look?”

  “You're a prize. Hair is perfect. Go already and let me sleep.”

  This whole deal is a first for me, excited about a female but not planning to take her mind and blood. Wrong, I wanted that bite, but I also didn't. Easy to sense that Henna was trying to trust me and didn't quite trust. Both approaches were justified.

  The day was nice and we were safely in public, just a short distance from my home. A distance she has not traveled. Knowing where I live is not on the table right now. I, too, wanted to trust but didn't - and both seemed justified.

  We walked here with chocolate covered ice cream bars that she bought us as a treat. Heh. And yech! She ate hers while I related a story long enough to let mine melt and get messy so I could chuck it in the trash and wash the goop off at a drinking fountain.

  Henna sat next to me on a bench, her back to the table, teasing bare legs crossed at the knee. We had company. Skittish and scolding company. Half a dozen squirrels glared at our presence while darting here and there, careful to veer from the only predator in their safe park. I tried to seem bland, but they were on to me, instincts at highest alert. Yet the little creatures were purposeful and playful, doing what they were designed to do. I felt the same purposeful and playful. And I wanted to do what I was designed to do.

  I scrunched and leaned against her. She felt my weight and slanted her head halfway, eyes lowered to look at me. My arm flamed where it rested against her skin. We haven't touched much yet, at least not in a guy with his girl way. Watch me, Henna, as I nudge you into my world. Gently, I took the hand cupping her knee and turned it palm up.

  “Right here. This long one? This is your life line, Henna.” My finger moved across her palm. “A nice one.”

  “Wait. Is this a free reading?” She pulled her hand away.

  “It could cost you, but the reading will be good.” I was going for her emotions, so set my voice low and suggestive. Machinations, I confess, that apparently went unnoticed.

  Her hand was back. “Where’s the line for success? Where’s the line for happiness?”

  “Questions, questions, girl,” I scolded.

  “Uh huh?” she said. “You’re a fake.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, well. I only know one line.”

  My hand lay under hers and together we measured the difference in size. I ran my fingers along each of her slender ones. “You have calluses from the guitar.”

  “Great. Not very feminine.”

  “No, but interesting.” I traced the tendons on the back of her hand and twisted the rings, one on each middle finger. “You like rings,” I said.

  “And toe rings. See?” She stretched her legs, showing me the bands on each foot, barely visible under the sandal straps. “Let me see your ring, Brecken.”

  I flipped her hand, laying it against mine once more. There was a tickle between our palms - a tickle all people could feel, but especially strong, tingling from Henna to me and back. She puckered, glanced at me and lifted her palm above mine, raising and lowering, feeling the tickle ebb and flow. It made me smile and her eyes widened for a moment. Then she turned my ring, leaning over to examine it.

  “Tell me about this.”

  Her hair was close, her scent in my face. I breathed and spoke into it. “My ring is old.”

  “It looks like some sort of crest.”

  “Right. From Scotland.”

  “Is it a family crest? I thought you were Dutch.” She was interested. Good. Nope, not good, when nearly all I could tell her would be fabricated, made up to satisfy, not to reveal. Pseudonym, and pseudo life. Truth and lie.

  I gave her part truth. “It's not from my family. Just a crest I like.” Her hair blew in my face and I sucked a long lock between my lips.

  She pulled back and tucked loose strands behind her ear. “It's beautiful. Where did you get it?”

  “It was given to me by a friend.”

  “A girl friend?” Lips curled, teasing - and the tease hit me right in the groin.

  I smiled to cover over. “Just someone who had it and saw that I liked it.”

  “Someone I get to meet? A light question with a difficult answer. Meet Louie and sense him as different in precisely the way I am? Not going to happen.

  “He's away. Not sure when he'll be back.” I looked at her mouth, took a shaky breath and let it out as my gaze returned to our hands.

  Calculated moves, designed to entice and not satisfy. Make her want more than she gets. Was it working? All instincts were flashing in my head, telling me she was hot for me. But the girl was calculating, too. Teasing, two steps forward, one step back. I knew that dance.

  She was toying with my ring so I toyed, also. My fin
gers drifted up her arm and back down the inside of her wrist. Her pulse was strong. I gulped a little then drifted my fingers again. She looked up and laughed at a scolding squirrel.

  “He's bugging his eyes at us. Or at you, since I'm the animal lover.”

  “Oh, Henna, you have no idea how much I love animals.”

  “Okay, but do they love you?”

  Ha, perceptive. “Naturally. How could you doubt it?”

  Henna’s clip was askew. The breeze ruffled and a strand slipped from her ear and grazed across my arm. “Let me.” I tugged gently to pull the clip free.

  She rolled her shoulders. “Let you what?” It sounded like one dance step forward to me.

  I angled her body and slid my hand up her back to the nape of her neck where tendons and muscles tighten. Touching Henna. Unseen places hidden by thick hair. Soft kneading, then more firm. She sighed and dropped her chin, rolling her head. Voyeur me watched pleasure cross her face as my palms smoothed along her shoulders.

  “That feels so good,” she breathed. I bent close and sucked in her breath.

  “It’s supposed to feel good.” My hand circled her neck, kneading gently as my traitor mind focused on the nearness of her tender throat and my beloved fangs loosened. Every muscle in my body tensed and I jerked away, jolted by my all too natural reaction.

  She felt my sudden pull back and looked up at me, confused.

  I spoke roughly, annoyed at my darker self. “Sorry.” But her mouth was close, so tempting. I had to touch it. Careful, I cautioned myself. Controlled and not controlled, I turned her face full to mine.

  “You have incredible eyes.” I lifted my hand - slowly, in case she stopped me. She didn’t and I brushed my fingertips along her brow, danced them lightly over blinking lashes. She closed the lids and I blew gently then trailed down her cheek, around her ear and into the thick hair. Holding my breath, I rubbed my thumb tenderly across her lips, inviting her, hoping. Waiting. Ah yes, she dances well. Her lips opened and she moved them slowly under my thumb.

  No grassy ghost in rain filled dreamland. This was really her. “Henna,” I whispered.

  “Mmmm?” She moved her lips again, stroking my thumb with their puffy softness.

  I throbbed inside. Such a small thing, lips touching me, open and moving. I felt a deep shift away from sanity and leaned closer, feeling her energy merge with mine. So quickly I was mesmerized, scarcely breathing, not wanting to stop.

  And then she bit. Eyelids half closed, she looked me eye to eye and fastened tight onto my thumb. A hard bite. I almost went wild. Just like that my vamp surged to take over. Just like that I was caught in the vise of my own nature and I was burning.

  Her expression crinkled in a silent tease, lips curved, teeth gripping. And she ground them a little. I loved it. I sucked in with a hiss, lost in the sight of my hand on her cheek, my thumb in her mouth.

  Thank God, there was pain. Exquisite pain. Teeth on me, delicious pressure. Not exactly the bite I craved, but the idea inflamed.

  If I and all my kind have a weakness, it was just this. A bite. My mind had slipped into a dark haze, insides on fire. I dared not move, yet her breath raised the hair on my arm and the quickened throb of red flowing under her skin invited. She ground her teeth and it hurt more with each grind. Did she know? Was it on purpose? Of course it was. Her side glance, our eyes meeting.

  Moments passed. Full daylight, public park, potential witnesses. Did she guess the affect on me? I didn’t care. She was biting hard, expecting normal protest, but I had no protest, only fire. My gums were swollen, aching that lovely ache that shreds my body and fuels the fire. A shaky intake of air and I blew on her neck, on the sweet spot, so close, waiting.

  And then - she released. No! I wanted to touch the puff of her lips. I wanted my tongue on her throat.

  I dared not, though they were caring gestures, warm and complete within themselves. But they are also prelude to the real goal. Yet another fork in the road and again I had to choose. Stop now or pursue? Cheat, take her awareness - or be still and burn?

  Any woman would feel the heat in me and realize I swayed at the brink, and Henna most certainly did. She rose to her feet, tugging me up, also. I leaned against her, a bee to the flower, a blazing comet caught in her orbit. She took my hand and led me across the grass towards the sidewalk.

  I tried to fake ease, but I was panting, swallowing to hide, then panting again. And this was only first touch. A step in the courtship waltz. Nothing serious, nothing to call Louie about. So, how did she do it? What was this girl about? And ah, how well she understood what to do next.

  As I had talked while ice cream melted, now she talked while scorching fire melted. And most of me was glad she did.

  Chapter 25

  Russell

  “Russell,” Doreen said. “Remember I don't know where to turn off.”

  “I'll tell you.” I spread out in the back seat, looking out at the freeway, and gloated. Found you didn’t I, Henna. Figured it wouldn’t take long. Thought you could get away from me by leaving Venice, but wasn’t that easy. I looked at Doreen helping me like a sweetheart and I wanted to tell her. Okay if I tell her about you, I asked my wife in my head.

  “Hey, Doreen. We got a ways to go yet. Gonna bother you if I talk?”

  She glanced at me in the car mirror. “Never has.”

  I laughed. “Screw you. This is about Megan, and Henna, too.” I started with the kid I forced to do a computer search, looking for Henna Landau, musician. “I'm telling you, Doreen, when she disappeared from Luci's place, I went everywhere, every club and bar I could find. Up to Malibu, down past your territory in Long Beach. And I went up to my old house in Oakland, cause who knows, maybe. Then I got an idea and grabbed that geek carrying a lap top. Didn’t take long after that. Then I drained him.”

  My fangs came out when I said that last bit and I flicked my tongue back and forth and pictured the scrawny neck and the boy shaking away. And I pictured Megan.

  “I had a wife once, Doreen. Even years after I turned and started draining. That’s what I wanted to share with her. You paying attention? That’s why I went back. For my wife.”

  “Megan was still there, living in the little house we saved to buy. Just the two of us, married and happy until I changed and had to leave. Anyway, it was years before I went to get her and she was asleep. I lay down on the bed and instead of waking up and hugging me, she screamed. There was a little kid in bed, too. Megan shoved her away, but she didn’t go far. Strange, that girl. Something different about her. I decided to take her too, but Megan first.”

  My head filled with the memory of my wife fighting me. “I hugged her and told her it was me, but she kept on screaming so I brought her to the old warehouse to make the change. Damn, she tasted good. I used to bite her playing like. That was before, when kisses and tongue was what we were after, not blood.”

  Doreen made a loud grunt and I flicked her in the back of the head and that made her laugh, cause she's always the one flicking me. “You're interrupting my story, you cute bitch. Anyway, after I was gone so long I wanted Megan to be excited to see me and tell me she'd go with me anywhere, like she used to say. I wanted her to love how strong I am and how I still looked the same and even better, but she just shoved and screamed until I got so mad I shook her. Never did that before.”

  I remembered like it had just happened - but in my head so Doreen wouldn't hear, I told Megan again that I was sorry about roughing her up and scaring her so bad.

  Doreen was watching me in the mirror. “That the end of the story, Russell?”

  “No, but we gotta be getting close. Turn off on Indian Hill.”

  “Not many vamps live around here. I only felt one so far and he's up ahead.”

  “Whatever. Lemme finish telling you about Megan. So when I bit her I was still mad and she tasted so good I took too much. I waited, thought she’d recover. Tried to make her swallow my blood. I dripped into her mouth even squirted, but she coughed
and spit and wasted it all over herself. “

  I shook my head at how stupid I was back then. “Have you ever turned someone, Doreen? Easy, but you gotta be careful. It took a long time for me when I changed. Slow, almost a week, and I was real sick at the end. Could hardly even have sex, it was so bad.

  “But you managed.” She snorted.

  I laughed. “Hey, you know. Megan always took care of me and she did when I was changing too, but I had to get up and run cause I was so damned thirsty and afraid I’d hurt her. And then I was lost. For years, just lost and moving around all over the country.”

  “Going sentimental on me, Russell?”

  “Interested? You may be skinny, but everything's put together right.”

  She barked a laugh. “Dream on, lover boy.”

  “Your loss, sweetie. Anyway, at the warehouse, I bit her and it’s not supposed to take as long as it did with me, so I stayed tight close with Megan after I drained her blood and gave her mine back. I waited for her to wake up all fanged and throw herself at me, starving for me like I starved for her. I wanted my wife and she up and died on me. But I listened to her when she was sick and moaning stuff and I knew something she tried to hide. She had a daughter. The strange little kid.”

  “Henna, all grown up now?” Doreen said.

  “Yeah, isn't that a kick. I went back looking for her after Megan didn't make it. She was gone and I couldn't find out where.”

  “Okay, okay, I get your drippy story.”

  “Shut your face. You've got nothing to do but drive and me neither, so listen.” I moved so Doreen couldn't see me in the mirror. “I walked into that club all these years later, and there she was, grown up and still feeling strange like that. Finding out where Henna lived was a piece of cake. Catching her alone wasn’t, piss on it anyway. Her roommate had all her friends hanging out all night. But I took care of the roommate. You remember that girl on the boat? I figured the friends would split and I'd get to Henna.”

  “But, guess what,” Doreen said. “You waited too long. You was off setting things up and when you got back, she was gone.”